Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Sunny Onuesoke, has called on President Bola Tinubu to scrap the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) since it has become a money-making machine for the Federal Government at the expense of impoverished parents and prospective students.
The former Delta PDP governorship aspirant argued that it can hardly be justified that out of 1.9 million candidates who sat for the UTME, only 8,400 candidates could score 300 and above.
He insisted that JAMB has lost its relevance since tertiary institutions still conduct their own entrance examinations for prospective students after they sit for the UTME.
Onuesoke, therefore, urged the Federal Government to scrap JAMB because the body, which is supposed to be a non-profit agency, has become a money-making machine and has subsequently denied some determined and capable applicants from getting admissions to various tertiary institutions in the country.
“It is annoying hearing the JAMB registrar brag about how much he remitted into the Federation Account amid the mass failure in the examination.
ALSO READ: VistaJet adding flavour to charter operations in Nigeria, W/Africa
“First and foremost, when it is clear that all universities in Nigeria cannot admit more than 400,000 candidates, why would JAMB sell forms to about 1.9 million candidates to write the examination?
“Well, people will say it is about competition, but the secret behind it is to extort the parents of the prospective students,” he alleged.
He described the UTME as “a way of defrauding the masses,” and an obstacle to gaining admission to tertiary education for millions of Nigerians.
According to the PDP Chieftain, tertiary institutions should be allowed to implement their own standards for admitting qualified students.
He added, “Every university has its own standard requirements that they use to secure admission. Why are we still using a unified examination?
“I am of the opinion that they should use WAEC and NECO results of the prospective students as means of admission to universities through a university common entrance as the basic admission criterion.
“The scores or grades in WAEC or NECO should be the determining factor by various universities for admission,” he asserted.
